


How to be a Fake

by just_a_rosie



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fake AH Crew, Female Jack, M/M, Multi, Open Relationships, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:35:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22021903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_a_rosie/pseuds/just_a_rosie
Summary: Lori and Jeremy were at the center of Los Santos' worst gang war seven years ago. Now, forced out of hiding one too many times, they decide the best place to hide is in the very place they started. Except now there is a new king in town and he can't help but be intrigued by the new talent in his city. OT7 x Fem!OC(On Hiatus)
Relationships: Gavin Free/Original Female Character(s), Geoff Ramsey/Original Female Character(s), Jack Pattillo & Original Female Character(s), Jeremy Dooley/Gavin Free/Ryan Haywood/Michael Jones/Ray Narvaez Jr./Jack Pattillo/Geoff Ramsey, Jeremy Dooley/Original Female Character(s), Michael Jones/Original Female Character(s), Ray Narvaez Jr./Original Female Character(s), Ryan Haywood/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So before I pour my heart and soul into writing more of this story, I want to know what people think of the idea. Basically look at the tags, summary, and (admittedly hastily written) prologue and decide if this is something you'd be interested in reading.
> 
> This was originally going to be an OT7/Reader, but if I want to get as detailed as I want to, I figured an OC was just easiest. I hope you like her.

"They're coming up fast!" The woman yelled at her companion in the driver's seat. She then hung out the window and sent the last grenade from the grenade launcher flying into the closest large vehicle. She watched as it exploded, sending bits of metal and chunks of human everywhere.

"I know! I know! Hang on a sec!" The man yelled back. He swerved onto the other side of the street, dodging oncoming traffic.

"Monarch? Doolz? You guys there?" A voice came over their headsets.

"Hey, Braggasaurus, glad you finally joined the party," the woman known as Monarch called as she switched from the grenade launcher to a semi-automatic. She leaned back out and began unloading into wheels and windshields.

"Just what the hell happened?" Braggasaurus asked. "One minute the job is done and the next you're in a high speed chase with the cops?"

"Not the cops-" Sirens began to blare. Doolz cringed. "Okay, not just the cops. A bunch of guys just came out of fucking nowhere and-"

"They have animal masks," Monarch interjected, getting to the point.

"Fuck!" Braggasaurus cursed.

"You have the go bags ready, right?" Doolz asked.

"Yeah," the other man answered.

"Cool, grab them and anything else you can and meet us in that little town we passed coming here. You remember the one?" Doolz said, taking a sharp left that nearly flung Monarch completely out of the window she was hanging out of.

"Dude, of course, they had the best apple pie." Monarch rolled her eyes as she took the time now back in the car to put in a fresh clip.

"Doolz? What the fuck are you doing?" Monarch asked as she finally looked ahead instead of behind them.

"Hang on!"

"Doolz! Doolz! Fuck! Fuck! Doolz!" Monarch screamed as Doolz went full speed at a drawbridge that was half way open. For a heart stopping fraction of a second, it almost seemed like they weren't going to make it. They touched ground on the other side, the back wheels just barely making it onto the bridge. The only other vehicle to jump and make it was a motorcycle, and Monarch quickly dispatched the driver once she was able to.

The two laughed maniacally as they weaved through the streets, looking for a place to ditch the car and find a new one. They found a long term parking garage and finally stopped. They got out of the car and the moment Monarch could reach him again, she slapped Doolz.

"Ow! What the-"

"You're such a fucking asshole!" She yelled, before grabbing his face and pulling it to hers. The two were locked in an intense kiss for a few seconds before they pulled apart and got back to work. Time was of the essence.

Doolz hotwired a car, getting it ready to leave. Monarch covered the other car in gasoline. They both threw their masks into the car before lighting it up.

Jeremy and Lorelei then drove to the town east of San Fierro to meet up with Matt. The Farm finding them in San Fierro was the last straw. They had to go to the one place that the newly rebuilt gang would never look for them. They had to go back to Los Santos.


	2. A New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A change of scenery isn't always unfamiliar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not sure about a posting schedule yet, but I did want to add more for now, so people can get a better idea of the story.
> 
> Enjoy.

Lori gazed out the window of their new apartment. It wasn't a very nice apartment. It was in the crappy part of town and had only two bedrooms. Matt had only been able to grab so much money before he left and Los Santos was an expensive place to live. The view was definitely different from the last time she looked out her bedroom window at this city. The city looked a lot prettier from a high rise.

"I got them!" Jeremy called. "They look fucking awesome, by the way."

Lori turned around, a smile on her face that wasn't previously there. Jeremy put a box on the small dining table.

"Chameleon," he said, putting an outfit's worth of clothes in front of her. They had their heist outfits custom made by an untraceable company. Lori's consisted of a black undershirt, black well fitted jeans, a green leather jacket, and green combat boots. Then, of course, there was the mask. Her last mask had been a beautiful monarch butterfly mask. This one was even more gorgeous than that. It was a half mask, covering her eyes and nose. It was a pretty green color with a purple sheen and a scale texture. The eye holes looked like goggles, but had no glass as smudges during a heist could throw off her aim.

"Going up the food chain, I guess," Lori laughed. Matt had come up with her new alias. He thought it was a pretty cool idea, what with her talent being up close and personal assassinations that had her blending in and playing a character. Her only stipulation was that the mask not be an animal mask like those of The Farm.

"How do I look?" Jeremy asked, having changed in the time it took her to admire the craftsmanship of the mask.

"Hideous," she answered. He wore a bright orange undershirt with a purple blazer over it and bright yellow pants. He had black gloves on, a white Stetson, and his favorite sunglasses on. The glasses and his beard worked well enough as a mask. The Stetson covered his now bald head as he had decided the colors weren't worth the risk at this point.

"Aw, thanks babe!" Jeremy responded sarcastically. Lori had picked Jeremy's new alias: Rimmy Tim. It was an old inside joke between the three that she wasn't about to disclose to anyone.

"So you guys can finally heist again? Thank fuck for that!" Matt said from his spot in front of the TV. It had been an annoying couple months of Lori working assassinations and Jeremy doing some underground street fights. They were ready to get back to normalcy.

"You sure you're up for working again, buddy?" Matt rolled his eyes at Jeremy. It wasn't like Matt wasn't working. He had gotten the three fake civilian identities and had also built up a fake reputation for their aliases. Matt had done the most work he'd ever done in his life in the first few weeks they were there.

"I'm ready to get out of this hellhole and into a nicer apartment," Lori interjected.

"It'd probably be best to set up a safe house or two first," Matt pointed out. Lori pouted.

"Sorry princess, but you knew that this wouldn't be the same life as before," Jeremy told her.

Lori's face hardened.

"I don't want that life and you know it. I much prefer this one. Even if the view sucks."

"I think the view's pretty nice, actually," Jeremy said with a wink.

"Oh, get a room," Matt said with an eye roll.

The relationships between the three were interesting to say the least. It had been a rocky start, but over time Lori had grown to love the men she now considered family. Though her love for Jeremy wasn't quite as familial as her love for Matt. Despite growing up in a criminal family, she hadn't realized just how lax criminals seem to be about intimacy. Or maybe it was just Jeremy. The man slept with anyone and everyone. Well, except Matt, those two were like brothers. At first Lori had been jealous, having caught feelings for the man. Then Jeremy had explained the concept of polyamory and open relationships to her and she wasn't so upset anymore. He loved her no matter who all he slept with. They're relationship was the open kind, as none of their other sexual partners ever stick around. Lori likes it that way. She isn't sure she could love another person the way she loves Jeremy. Lori smiled down at the ring on her finger. It was a diamond with a purple gem on one side and an orange gem on the other on a silver band. While weddings and marriages weren't something that really concerned either of them and wasn't something they had done, the ring still held a promise.

"So, heist?" Lori questioned.

"Heist," Matt said and Jeremy nodded. And just like that they got to work making up a plan. It helped that they still kind of knew the area, even if the players in town have changed drastically.

\---

"It seems the robbers got in and out with no one noticing despite the high tech security system aboard the boat, leading some to believe it was an inside job," Meg Turney, the news anchor of Weazel News, reported. "These individuals were caught by security cameras. If you have any information on the identity of these individuals, please call-" she was cut off as someone hit the mute button.

"High tech security system, my arse!" Gavin yelled. "Those pictures are grainy as fuck!"

It was true, the black and white photos weren't very high quality at all. They showed two people. One a man with sunglasses and a white cowboy hat, the other a woman in a half mask.

"How the fuck did someone beat us to it!" Geoff seethed. The paintings had arrived last night and were going to be moved to the museum this morning. The Fakes had been all ready to go when the news announced that the things had been stolen. They had been planning to take them en route. They had been planning to do so for months. And now someone had beaten them to it. Jack understands Geoff's frustration. She had been just as pumped about this heist as he was. It was rare that they got to steal something that wasn't just money.

"Well that's a little mocking, isn't it?" Ryan noted as the pictures of the paintings used to replace the priceless ones were shown on the screen again. They had run the story three times already and it wasn't even noon. There were two paintings that were stolen. One replacement painting was of a cartoon chameleon giving the finger. The other was an orange and purple dragon also giving the finger. Jack found them rather funny, and much more artfully done than Michael and Gavin's array of penis drawings that they were going to replace the art with.

"Dude, that dragon is sick. Just wish they had chosen better colors, though," Ray said, briefly looking up from his 3DS.

"You think we could commission them?" Michael questioned. He had returned from safely moving the explosives back to storage a while ago.

"Guys! This is serious!" Geoff complained. "Who the hell are these dudes anyways?"

They all looked to Jack. Because of course she would have all the answers. Men, she thought, they're so lost without at least one woman around.

"I've done some checking around," she told them from her spot at the computer. Really Gavin should be the one doing this, but he's too amped up to sit still. "A guy named Axial is claiming his clients Chameleon and Rimmy Tim did the heist. It's legit since he claimed it before it was even on the news. He's got pictures of the replacement paintings and everything."

"Gavin, get us everything there is to know about these two," Geoff commanded and Gavin instantly jumped up to follow the orders. "Jack, get in contact with Griffon to see if anyone is trying to sell her those paintings."

"Yes, sir," Jack said, Griffon's number already up on her phone. Geoff was getting too predictable.

"What about us, boss?" Michael asked. Geoff looked at Michael, Ray and Ryan, all still geared up.

"Grab some guys from B Team and go rob a store or something. Can't let today be a complete waste of time," Geoff waved them off. Ryan and Michael happily complied. Ray sighed and slowly followed the other two men.

After getting off the phone with Griffon, Jack was approached by Geoff.

"Griffon says to fuck off and that her sales are none of your business."

"So they have contacted her," Geoff reasoned.

"Most definitely," Jack confirmed.

"I'll talk to her then," Geoff sighed. Jack rolled her eyes. They'd do much more than talk, she's sure. Despite their ex-marital status, those two still go at it constantly. She's not part of the relationship, but she is one of Geoff's regular lays.

"I got it!" Gavin yelled. Geoff and Jack both crowded his screen, which the Brit hated. "Turns out they've been in the city for a while. Well, Axial and Chameleon have, anyways, don't know where this Rimmy Tim bloke's been. Turns out they're a mercenary duo, supposedly been responsible for a number of heists in several cities over the past few years."

"Supposedly?" Jack questioned.

"They're fake credentials. Totally made up. This guy is good, but not good enough." Gavin grinned up at them, but neither would take the bait to compliment him. Gavin pouted, but continued, "Anyway, turns out that Chameleon's also an assassin for hire. She's taken a few jobs over the last couple months, so we know she's been here since at least a month and a half ago when she did her first job."

"Success rate?" Geoff asked.

"One hundred percent. She does poisonings and other up close and personal shit. One guy was found with his throat slit and his dong mutilated." Gavin and Geoff both cringed at that.

"Brutal, man," Geoff said.

"It was probably a requirement of the job," Jack commented, waving off their disgust. She had an idea forming in her head, already knowing what Geoff was going to say.

"We need to get in contact with these guys."

"To do what, Geoffrey?" Gavin asked.

"These guys beat us to a heist! They ruined months of work! What do you think I want to do?"

"So we're offering them a job?" Jack guessed.

"We're offering them a job," Geoff confirmed.

"Cool. Who wants to get assassinated?"

Geoff raised a brow and Gavin balked at Jack's question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated. (Seriously I promise you that as long as your goal is to better my writing and not tear me down, I will not be offended if you have a critique)


	3. An Interesting Proposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A proposition is put on the table. Will Lori, Jeremy, and Matt take it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update schedule: New chapter every Monday evening PST.

It was a routine assassination. Nothing was odd about the price. Nothing weird came up when they checked out the target and client's backgrounds. It was just a simple case of a woman scorned. Nicole Campbell wanted her husband Max Campbell dead for cheating on her. The only thing that could have been odd was that the wife of an electrician could afford her, but Matt found a good amount of family funds in her account. Not the way Lori would use her inheritance from her grandmother, but who is she to judge.

She found a house where the owners were obviously on vacation, and broke in. It was a total bachelor pad. She broke into the safe and stole the money, but left everything else to keep the house looking normal. She got rid of any pictures around. The place apparently belonged to a middle aged man with adult children. No woman his age was in any pictures, so probably divorce.

She then fucked up the air conditioner after looking up a way to tamper with it without it looking like she had tampered with it. She had to wait until the house heated up and then called his electrician service. Then she got dressed in an alluring outfit and got ready for him. A gun and knife in the nightstand as a failsafe, but she's sure the piano wire hidden in her bra will suffice.

Lori answered the door. His license photo really didn't do him justice. This man was far too gorgeous to be an electrician with his reddish brown hair and freckles, his baby face contrasting with his well toned arms.

"Lauren?" He asked.

"Yes?" Lori let a slight purr into her voice.

"I'm here to fix the air conditioner."

"Of course, right this way," she easily led him through the house. She added a swing to her hips and when she turned to let him to the air conditioner, she could tell he was slightly flustered.

"I have no idea how any of this works, but this is the air conditioner, right?"

The man nodded.

"Yes, this is it," he said, getting started inspecting the unit.

The rest went much like a porno, which Lori is sure was the man's fantasy. She offered him a drink. She drank some water herself, letting the water leak from her mouth and run all the way down to her chest. They exchanged flirtatious and suggestive conversation. And eventually they made their way to the bedroom.

Lori decided right away that she wasn't going to kill this man just yet. He had an amazing mouth and incredible fingers. She let him take her bra off, the civilian not noticing the piano wire hidden by the clasp. She let the man ravage her. He was really, really good at this. It was actually quite a shame she had to kill him after this.

He collapsed beside her and as he took care of the condom she reached for the nightstand. But she froze with her hand on the handle when she heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked.

"Hands up, Chameleon. Slowly."

Lori cursed under her breath as she slowly raised her hands up. She turned to the man, unabashedly naked before her and holding a gun pointed at her. Well, how the hell was she going to get herself out of this one?

"So what'd I do? Who'd I kill who was important to you?"

The man chuckled.

"No one. I'm here to offer you a job."

"You know I have a contact you can do that through, right? I'm pretty sure your 'wife' did just that."

"Not that kind of job. I'm from The Fakes."

Lori felt her heart rate pick up at that. The Fakes had taken over Los Santos five years ago, two years after The Great Gang War of Los Santos. They weren't the biggest gang around, but they were powerful.

"You're not serious," she scoffed.

"I am," he said and reached into the pocket of his jeans which he picked up from the floor, pulling out a card. He handed it to her. It was a simple black card with The Fakes' green duck logo and a number on it.

"Think about it and give us a call. You and Rimmy Tim are invited for a trial run." He put the gun down and began to dress. He knew she wouldn't dare kill him. He was a Fake. She didn't need another gang after her.

"Why not just message Axial?"

"Because you'd just ignore us. We know how mercenaries work, we have a few on our payroll." He grabbed his gun. "We find that it's a bit harder to ignore us when we stand right in front of you."

"And when you know their face," Lori added bitterly. How could she have been so stupid to let her guard down?

"That too. Not that we'll do anything with it. This really is just a friendly invite." He pulled on his jacket. "See you around, Chammie," he said with a wink and left without another word.

Just what the fuck was she supposed to do now?

\---

The three sat around the table, just staring at the little black card Lori had brought home. It was an interesting proposition, Matt thought. He knew how apprehensive Lori and Jeremy were, though. Neither thought it was a good idea to mess with gangs. Especially with another gang after them. If they did join this gang and it came to light that The Farm was after them, then they'd have two gangs pissed at them. But they couldn't disclose that information because then The Fakes would turn them over to The Farm for a quick buck. The best option seemed to be to just decline the offer. But then they may run the trio out of their territory and they couldn't really afford that. This was the safest place for them. So, they were stuck.

"I don't think we should do it," Jeremy finally said. Somehow Matt's sure that his friend isn't thinking as clearly as he is. Jeremy rarely gets jealous when Lori sleeps around, but the fact that this guy wasn't just a civilian or a no name mercenary was obviously rubbing Jeremy the wrong way. This was a man who could give her her old life back, something Jeremy never could do.

"That runs the risk of having to leave," Matt reminded. They'd been over this many times. They were running in loops.

"So? We can start a new life somewhere else, we've done it tons of times!"

"But we know this is the safest place for us to be, Jeremy," Matt sighed. He was really getting tired of this.

"What if we just, like, call a truce or something?" Lori thought aloud. "We stay out of their way, they stay out of ours."

Matt shrugged. It was a new idea at least.

"I'll get in contact with them. See what our options really are here," Matt finally decided. There was no more point in going around in circles. Who knows, maybe these guys weren't all that territorial and would let them stay even if they declined.

"Make sure you tell them that we don't join without you," Lori added. They had, in fact, only offered the proposition to Jeremy and Lori. It made sense, they probably thought he was just some middle man. "The three of us are a package deal."

Matt nodded and, taking the card, went to make what would likely be an intense phone call once he set up an untraceable line.

\---

It had taken two weeks to set up the whole assassination trap. It took the duo less than a day to get back to them. He'll give them one thing, they work quickly. Too quickly, actually. Jack was out when she got the call, meaning they couldn't try to trace it. She came back from a drive and informed them that she had been in contact with Axial. Geoff had been surprised. Who they previously thought was a middle man was actually part of the team. They were a trio. Geoff wouldn't mind letting him in on the trial if it meant working with the other two. Except that they didn't want the trial. It hadn't really surprised Geoff too much, mercenaries do tend to avoid gangs. It had taken months to get Ryan to agree to a trial run. What they did want, however, was to stay in the city. That was the most odd part of the conversation. Mercenaries tended to be pretty migratory, so the fact that the answer to Jack's question of how long they'd be staying was "for the foreseeable future" was shocking. Geoff wasn't sure how much he liked that. Were they trying to overthrow him?

"You're being paranoid, Geoff. They're three people, not another gang," Jack admonished.

"I was one person when I decided I wanted this city," Geoff argued, but he knew he was just being paranoid. He couldn't help it, he was only five years into this. The last gang that ran this city, The Hoodlums, was around for decades. Not to mention the gang that brought their downfall was rebuilding and probably had their sights set on Los Santos again. Something occured to Geoff. "Fuck, what if they're from The Farm?"

"Then they'd have taken us up on our offer. Or Chameleon could have killed Michael, he said he gave her the opening." Geoff cringed. As much as he loved Michael, the kid was over arrogant sometimes. "Really, Geoff, relax. They wouldn't be the first mercenaries to call Los Santos their home." That was true. Lindsay herself had been one before joining B Team and Ruby Rose's associate, Yang, was still around. They even hire Barbara from time to time. It was a good thing the girls split on good terms.

"Who knows, maybe they'll come around."

Geoff hoped so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated. (Seriously I promise you that as long as your goal is to better my writing and not tear me down, I will not be offended if you have a critique)


	4. Fate Can Go Fuck Herself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lori is starting to think that Los Santos isn't quite big enough to be able to avoid the Fakes completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuses except that I suck and inspiration just isn't coming as easily as it should be.
> 
> POSSIBLY IMPORTANT CHARACTER STUFF: I've been watching compilations recently and it turns out my "random ass name" I picked for the OC is Ryan's wife's name. Stupid brain. But I like the name so... meh, I'm sticking with it. And as for her looks, I'm so used to writing "xReader"s that I very rarely reference looks, but Lori is an OC so obviously her looks aren't going to be as ambiguous. I've been picturing her looking like Katie Mcgrath, personally.

"And it seems that, once again, the police are no closer to discovering the identities of these masked criminals after this horrible tragedy," Meg Turney reported. Her hair was a different color than before. It had been red when reporting on the painting heist and now it was purple. Maybe she had a dying problem like Jeremy, Lori thought.

The woman downed a shot and quickly ordered a drink to replace it. She shook her head at the footage of The Fakes heist from not even an hour ago. They were sloppy, she thought. Like most of their heists, it had ended in a shootout with the cops. Somehow they never ended up with any casualties on their side, but one day their luck was bound to run out, right?

It had been two months since the whole debacle with The Fakes. They had taken the truce option, surprisingly enough. Lori hadn't seen that coming. Maybe it was from growing up watching her father's leadership, but she always thought of gangs as super territorial. Lori cringed. Nope, not thinking about that. Not thinking about him.

Over those two months, Rimmy Tim and Chameleon had really made a name for themselves. Lori was able to ditch low paying jobs and started getting hired for more powerful targets. Her crowning achievement was a corrupt senator who came to visit last week. It had been difficult, but she was able to disguise herself as a financial backer of his campaign and was able to slip a poison tablet in his drink, thankful he had a dark drink that hid the pill, and a card claiming the kill in his breast pocket while he ogled her low neckline. They were pretty flush from that, so they were taking a break from heists. They had pulled off two more since being in Los Santos. One at a fancy mansion and the other at a bank. The mansion had gone just as flawlessly as the paintings, but they had run into problems with the bank. Lori ended up with a bullet in the shoulder from a civvy trying to play hero. Sufficed to say, no one tried to play hero again after Jeremy put a bullet in the man's face.

Lori barely glanced up as a rowdy group of young men and women entered the bar, hooting and hollering. She didn't pay much mind when a guy from the group ordered drinks beside her. He, however, did pay attention to her.

"Well hello, love," he greeted, flirtation dripping off his words. Lori hadn't been in the mindset to pull tonight, but she was suddenly rethinking that. Maybe it was the accent?

"Hey," she responded. "Celebrating something?" She nodded to the group without really looking at them, her eyes studying the man before her. He was quite cute. His sandy blonde hair stuck out in all directions, obviously full of product. He was dressed like he had just walked out of a magazine cover, and Lori rather wondered what he was doing in a dive like this.

"You could say that," the man answered vaguely. He nodded down to her drink. "What are you drinking?"

"My last drink," Lori answered. She quickly had the guy sussed out. He was a guy that always got what he wanted. She'll have far more fun turning him down than she would sleeping with the player. A pout over took his features.

"Aw, come on now. The night's still young," he attempted to persuade her. "Have another drink, love." His accent was noticeably thicker.

"Does the British thing normally work for you, then?" She teased. His pout deepened.

"Gavvers!" A familiar voice yelled as hands came down on the man's shoulders. "You can't even handle one simple task, can you boi?" Lori was vaguely aware of the tray of drinks sitting by the first man's elbow that had probably been there a while if his friend was complaining. But she was more concerned with who the friend was. She was about to attempt to hide behind her hair, happy it was long enough now to do so, but their eyes locked and she knew it was over as recognition flashed in them.

"Hey, Lauren, right?" The smirk he wore was infuriating.

"Huh? You two know each other?" His friend "Gavvers" questioned.

"Sort of. Though she knows me as Max," he told the other man, but his eyes didn't leave Lori's.

"Wot?!" The blonde yelled, nearly falling out of his seat. If she hadn't already suspected that the other man was a Fake, she knew for sure now.

"Great poker face there, 'Gavvers'," Lori said as she picked up her drink and took a sip. Her eyes flicked over to the rest of the group. There were three men and two women. She presumed they were all part of The Fakes, be they main crew or extras. Well, now she knew what the group was celebrating.

The man she only knew as Max looked around the bar as if looking for something. Or someone.

"They aren't here," she answered his unasked question. "We're not exactly attached at the hip, you know." The man, who's name likely wasn't Max, shrugged. Lori is a little surprised by that. She was sure the reason he wanted to see Jeremy and Matt was to know their faces as well. A face is everything in their business. Once your face is plastered all about, you have to relocate. Far. She now knows two faces well and five others vaguely.

The men weren't the right body type to be Vagabond, and none were sporting a handlebar mustache, so no Bojingles either. One of them could be Brownman, not much has been seen of the sniper, or perhaps Mogar. Neither of the women had shoulder length red hair, so that's a no go on Monki. As for the men in front of her? Well "Gavvers" was quite obviously the Golden Boy himself: Vav. Lori is actually berating herself she didn't notice the similarities sooner. How many blonde Brits with a penchant for luxury were there in Los Santos? And "Max" could be either Brownman or Mogar, same as the other guys. Theoretically he could also be one of the others, but she doubts they'd have used a non main crew member to be the messenger of their invitation.

"So, celebrating a botch job then?" Lori continued, casually sipping her drink as if she hadn't just insulted them.

"Botch job?!" Gavvers shrieked. "Are you having a laugh? We totally nailed it!"

"You only nailed it if that was the ending you intended on." Lori hated having to be vague about the shootout, but they were in public. At their blank expressions, her jaw dropped. These people were insane. They intended a shootout. Her, Jeremy and Matt near literally dodged a bullet with these guys.

"Hey Michael! Gavin! What's taking so long!" A pale, lanky guy with quaffed dark hair from the group of gangsters yelled. Lori snorted. And now she knew two names to go with two faces.

"See you around, Michael. Gavin," Lori nodded to them in turn as she stood up, dropped some bills on the bar for her drinks, and turned to leave.

"See you around, Chammie!" Michael called after her, not at all perturbed by her knowing his name. This man truly infuriated her.

\---

Jeremy cursed under his breath. This was the second heist to go wrong. They were two and two. Maybe banks were bad luck. Or Los Santos' police were more well equipped to handle criminals than The Fakes made them out to be. Either way, the fact was that Jeremy and Lori had gotten split up.

"Cham? You still there?" He called into his comm as he reloaded behind his shotty cover.

"Yeah, I'm here. But I'm fucking surrounded and-" her voice cuts off and Jeremy hears gun fire. His heart stops until her voice comes back. "Jesus, they're getting close and-" this time when her voice cuts off it's to the sound of yells. "And now they're dropping like flies?" It comes out sounding like a question.

"What the fuck does that-" Jeremy cuts himself off this time as they're is an explosion near him. Glancing up from behind his barrier, he sees the remains of the cop car that had been providing cover for the cops he was facing off with. There wasn't much left of the car or the cops. "The fuck?"

"Need a lift?"

Jeremy jumps and spins back around to see the fucking Vagabond pulled up on a motorcycle. And just like that it clicks.

"Rimmy?" Lori's voice is in his ears. "You okay? What happened?"

"I'll take you to her," Vagabond tells him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be right over, Cham."

"But you don't know where I am," Lori pointed out.

"Just-" Jeremy sighed. "I'll be there soon, alright?"

"Whatever you say." Jeremy could hear her rolling her eyes.

Jeremy hesitantly got on the back of the bike, choosing to hold onto the back grip bar, instead of the driver. And then Vagabond was off, racing down a couple blocks with a few turns. Jeremy is surprised just how far separated they got. Vagabond stopped outside an alley about two blocks away from a cluster of dead cops. Jeremy got off when he motioned to the alley.

"Cham?" Jeremy called. Lori rose from her hiding spot, gun raised, but lowered it when she saw Jeremy wasn't at gunpoint to call her name or anything like that.

"How the fuck did you find me?" She asked.

"I had help. Vagabond-" Jeremy gestured back and blinked at the empty mouth of the alley. "-is gone, apparently."

"Vagabond? As in The Fakes Vagabond?" Lori questioned.

"Yeah. He helped me out of my jam. Pretty sure it was Brownman picking off your pursuers as well."

"Huh."

Before either could begin to process what just happened, static blared in both of their ears.

"Chameleon? Rimmy Tim? Can you guys hear me?" Matt's voice came through a bit grainy at first, but it soon cleared up. They had had to switch to their back up channel just before they got separated because the police had somehow gotten into their usual channel. Matt hadn't answered when they tested the channel and they'd been on their own.

"The hell have you been?" Lori demanded.

"I was the problem. Mine was pinging off of something and I had to fix it. Don't worry, they don't have our location. Yes, I'm sure," Matt reassured before they could even ask the questions. "Where are you guys?"

"We'll be back soon," Jeremy told him. They just needed-

Jeremy heard glass break and turned to see Lori opening the door to a van that was in the alley. It looked like it delivers food normally, which makes sense since they're behind a restaurant. Jeremy grinned. Looks like they're luck really is turning around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated. (Seriously I promise you that as long as your goal is to better my writing and not tear me down, I will not be offended if you have a critique)

**Author's Note:**

> If/Once I get enough responses (be they kudos or comments) then I'll continue the story and start up an update schedule.


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